Rosebud
by HTKWolfe777
Summary: It started out as a normal day; Eggman was causing trouble, Sonic shows up to put a stop to it. But When Amy Rose steps in to save Sonic's life, a new laser turns her into a baby! Prepare yoursef for a story of cuteness, impromptu parenthood, and just a dash of suspense! Please Review.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

Sonic yawns, and stretches in a tree just outside Station Square. He'd just had a nice nap with his typical dream; running at the speed of sound to reach his favorite kind of tree, the kind that grew chili-dogs.

He takes in a deep breath, and lets it out. It's a beautiful day today; birds are chirping, there's only a few clouds in the sky, and in the distance he can hear police sirens.

… _Wait... What?_

Sonic hops out of the tree, and bolts for the city, curiosity getting the better of him. In about two seconds he's running across rooftops, eyes darting back and forth. He spots four, or five cruisers heading down the highway at top speed, and dashes over to them. He keeps pace with the lead cruiser, and the driver spots him, glancing at Sonic as he tries to keep his eyes on the street.

Sonic makes a circular motion with a fist, and the driver rolls down his window.

"Hey, Officer," Sonic calls into the car. "So where's all the action at today?"

The officer nods at Sonic, "Good morning, Sonic. It looks like your chubby buddy is making a ruckus at Station Square Bank, think you can buy us some time?"

"Are you kidding," Sonic gives the officer a thumbs up, and a grin. "Buy the time you get there he'll be begging for you to take him away." Sonic picks up speed, and vanishes in a blur of blue light.

Sonic arrives at the bank in about ten seconds, and dashes right inside. Suddenly a rope appears in front of him maybe two inches off of the ground. Sonic trips over it, and goes pinwheeling into the door of the vault.

"Ouch..." Sonic rubs the sore spot on his head, and looks over his shoulder. Eggman is crouching by the door, one end of the rope in one hand, and a gun in the other.

"Ho ho ho, Sonic!" Eggman chortles. "I was wondering when you'd be joining us. Now, listen to me very carefully, hedgehog. I want you to open that safe for me, if you don't..."

Eggman grabs one of his hostages, and puts a gun to her head. Sonic's eyes widen a bit when he recognizes the hostage.

"Huh, Amy?" Sonic stands up, and brushes himself off, "What are you doing here?"

"Trust me," she says. "This wasn't on my To-Do list today."

"Enough Chit-Chat," Eggman presses his gun harder into the pink hedgehog's quills. "Open the safe, NOW!"

"Sonic, don't do it!" Amy struggles against Eggman's grip, "He wants the Chaos Emeralds in there, don't let him have them!"

Sonic thinks for a minute, and then leans on the safe door with an arm, "Okay, Eggman, I'll open the safe. But just out of curiosity, what makes you think that I can't stop you from getting away?"

"Damn it, JUST OPEN THE BLASTED DOOR, OR I START SHOOTING!" Eggman's grip tightens on both Amy, and the gun.

"Okay, okay, jeez," Sonic straightens, and puts a hand of the vaults handle. "Don't get your mustache in a bunch." Sonic turns the handle, and pulls the door open with some effort. Suddenly a golden bolt of lightning flashes out of the safe, and collides with Sonic. He is sent flying, and hits the ground hard. Inside the vault is a large yellow robot with fists that crackle with electricity.

Eggman lets out a loud laugh, and says, "Say hello to my latest invention, Sonic. I call him Thunderfist, I hope you like him. I had to put a lot of effort into finding a way to immobilize you. After all, a taser would never work. I had to up the charge by almost a hundred!"

Sonic looks at the reader, and holds up an informative finger, "And that, kids, if why your parents tell you never to play with electric sockets."

Eggman looks around to see who Sonic is talking to, but just shrugs, and smiles at his old enemy. "Now then, Sonic, It's time to do what I came here for in the first place."

Thunderfist reaches into a hole in the bottom of the vault's floor, and pulls out a very large laser cannon. He braces it on a shoulder like a bazooka, and aims it at Sonic.

"This is a new experimental laser," Eggman explains. "I decided long ago that you were a pain that had to be dealt with as efficiently as possible, but history has shown that to be easier said than done. This laser is designed to take you apart, molecule by molecule, and rearrange your pieces into something truly grotesque. Sadly I can't harness enough energy, even with a Chaos Emerald, to disperse your atoms into thin air, so you'll just have to suffer a little."

Eggman laughs as the end of the cannon begins to glow bright orange.

"Sonic, no!" Amy bites Eggman's arm. He yowls in pain, and drops his gun, clutching at his bleeding hand. Amy dashes across the room, and throws herself in front of Sonic as the beam lances at him.

I collides with Amy, making her jerk, and fall to the floor. Orange beams circle around her, obscuring her from view. Sonic squeezes his eyes shut as the light becomes blindingly bright, and then it fades. Sonic opens his eyes, and gasps. Where his friend once lay is now a pair of gloves, golden bracelets, A pink headband, red boots, and her red dress with a lump about the size of a loaf of bread inside it.

"She bit me," Eggman growls. Seeing what's left of her on the floor, he says, "Hmph! She gets what she deserves! Thunderfist, recharge the cannon, and this time shoot Sonic!"

"Negative, Master," Thunderfist says in a bassy robotic voice. "Energy readings show that another blast without using fifteen minutes for cooldown will result in meltdown."

Sonic twitches his fingers, and form a fist, the effects of the lighting are beginning to wear off. Eggman notices this, and then glaces down at his injury.

"Retreat," he says. "I need to get fixed up back at the base, the little vixen might have given me rabies for all I know!" With that, Thunderfist turns, and jumps into the tunnel in the vault floor, Eggman close behind him.

Sonic tries to get to his feet, but ends up having to settle for crawling over to Amy. He's mad now, and with good reason. Amy, one of his most loyal friends, just sacrificed herself to save him.

_It's my fault,_ he thinks to himself. _Amy only did it out of blind devotion, she deserved so much better than this. I'll get Eggman for this, I swear it!"_

Slowly, Sonic reaches out with a trembling hand for the neck of the dress. Afraid of what he might find, he opens it, and looks inside. What he finds makes his eyes go wide.

_...Oh ...No..._

_..._

Tails slides out from under the Tornado, his plane, when he hears his phone ringing. He wipes oil off of his hands with a cloth, and then picks up the phone, "Hello, this is Tails."

"Hey, uh, buddy, it's Sonic."

"Oh hey Sonic," Tails brightens up. "What's up?"

There's a moment of silence, and then Sonic says, "Uh, could you call Cream, and the two of you come over real fast? I kinda have an emergency on my hands."

Tails's eyes go wide, "Yeah, we'll be over as soon as we can. We're coming over to your place, right?"

"Yeah, thanks, buddy." With that, Sonic hangs up, and Tails dials Cream's number. In less than five minutes the two of them are headed to Sonic's house. They ring the doorbell, and they hear Sonic call, "It's open". They walk in to find Sonic on his couch, and stare at him with raises eyebrows.

Sonic looks up at them, and grins shyly. In his arms, wrapped in a blue towel, is a tiny hedgehog with pink quills, and emerald green eyes. She looks up at Tails, and Cream, and giggles.

"Sonic..." Cream gasps in her squeaky voice. "Is... is that...?"

Suddenly a hammer the size of a carpenter's mallet appears in the baby's hands, and she whacks Sonic in the head with it. Sonic groans, and rubs the spot.

"I think Amy's hungry."

Cream holds Amy as Sonic explains what happened at the bank. Tails scratches his head, taking it in as best he can.

"Well," Tails says, glancing at Amy. "Best I can tell, we got really lucky. It sounds like Eggman built the cannon with the intended results kinda up in the air. Anything could have happened to Amy, or you for that matter, Sonic."

"I know," Sonic says, staring at Amy who's burbling happily in Cream's arms. "Still, there's gotta be a way to fix it."

"What are we going to do in the meantime," Cream asks. "I can take Amy home with me, and Mom can take care of her."

Sonic thinks about it, and he seriously considers taking Cream up on the offer. He doesn't know the first thing about babies, and he's sure he'd make a terrible dad to any kid. Still...

"She probably saved my life, Cream," Sonic says, walking over to her, and running some fingers through Amy's quills. Amy makes happy baby noises at him, and grabs a hold of his hand. "I'll need your help, but I think I should take care of her until we can fix this."

Cream, and Tails share a look of surprise, and then Cream nods.

"Okay, Sonic," she says. "'ll give Mom a call, and see if she can come over. Should we call the others?"

Sonic scratches an ear with his free hand, "Yeah, but try not to make any of them freak out, okay?"

Cream nods, and passes Amy to Sonic before heading to the phone. Sonic sits back down on his blue leather couch, bouncing Amy in his arms. She giggles, and presses a hand to his chin.

"Are you sure about this?" Tails looks between Sonic, and Amy, a concerned look on his face.

"Pretty sure, yeah," Sonic looks up at his best friend. "Aside from you, Amy is the only person who has always stood by me. It just feels kinda wrong to push her off on someone else when she's in trouble, you know?"

Amy grabs Sonic's bottom lips, and pulls on it. Tails chuckles, and says, "Yeah, but maybe you've bitten off more than you can chew on this one."

"Maybe," Sonic pulls his lip out of Amy's grip. She looks up at him with sad eyes, and starts crying. Cream pokes her head out of the kitchen with the phone held up to one ear, and Tails covers his.

"Shh, shh," Sonic presses a finger to her tiny mouth, which she grabs, and starts sucking the end of. She looks up at him with wide green eyes, and Sonic can't help but smile. He has to admit that she's kinda cute this way, even if she's not any quieter than before.

Cream walks into the room, "Mama says that she'll be over in a minute to help us get situated. She's bringing some of my old baby things, so we shouldn't have to buy much."

"Thanks, Cream," Sonic takes his finger out of Amy's mouth, and starts tickling her neck with it. "I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

Amy giggles, and starts squirming in his grip. Keeping a wary eye out for her hammer again, he wraps her tighter in the towel so she doesn't get cold. About fifteen minutes later Cream's mom, Vanilla, shows up in a van. Tails helps her move a white crib up into Sonic's room, and a playpen into the living-room. Cream brings in a box of baby stuff, and sets it next to Sonic. She takes Amy into the bathroom, ignoring her protests, and returns with Amy wearing a diaper, and a pink baby shirt with matching baby shoes.

Handing a crying Amy to Sonic, Cream looks over the setup with her mom. Amy quiets as Sonic holds her close, and snuggles into his chest. Tails wipes a few beads of sweat from his forehead as he sets a high-chair in the dining room.

"Well," Vanilla says, ruffling Amy's quills. "It looks like you're all set." Amy blows Vanilla a raspberry, and the elder rabbit just laughs.

Tails sets Sonic's cell-phone on his coffee-table, "I put Cream's home number, and my cell into your speed-dial, so we're only a push of a button away if you need something, alright?"

Sonic nods, and Cream turns to her mother.

"Mama, would it be okay if we spent the night here tonight, just in case?"

Vanilla smiles, "Well, if Sonic doesn't have a problem with it, neither do I. Fair warning though, I doubt any of you will be getting much sleep tonight if you do."

Sonic grins, "Thanks guys, if you wanna stay then I won't say no."

Tails heads for the door, "I'm gonna run home, and grab a few things. I'll be back in a few!"

"I have to go get a few things for Cream too," Vanilla says. "Cream, would you like to come with me? I'm sure Sonic can last a few minutes without us."

"Okay Mama, see you later Sonic!" With a wave the two rabbits disappear out the front door.

Sonic plops down with Amy in his lap, and she crawls off to the side to sit next to him on the couch. He picks up the remote, and turns on the TV to some cartoons. He powers through an episode of Sponge-Bob, and then he looks down to see Amy asleep with her head on his leg. He chuckles as he gingerly carries him up the stairs to his room, and sets her in the crib. He fishes a blanket, and a pillow out of the box of baby stuff, and tucks Amy in for her nap.

"Y'know," Sonic whispers to himself. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

He tip-toes out of the room, and leaves the door open a crack. He turns the TV onto some NASCAR, and waits for the others to get back.

About a half-hour later Sonic hears the van pull up, and he heads outside to help them carry stuff in.

"Welcome back," he says with a wave. "Ames just fell asleep a little while ago."

"Then we'll have to be quiet," Vanilla says with a nod. As quietly as they can, they set up a cot with a sleeping bag on it in the living-room. Just as they're finishing up, Tails comes through the door.

"Hey, I'm back!" He jumps a little when the others shush him, and then they hear crying upstairs. Vanilla heads up to get Amy, and Sonic sighs.

Tails lets out a nervous laugh, "Um, oops."

"It's okay," Sonic says with a shrug. "Maybe I should set up a sign for when she's napping?"

"A good idea," Cream says. "But I don't think that's really necessary."

Vanilla comes down the stairs trying to hush a bawling Amy. The little pink hedgehog whines, and stretches her arms towards Sonic when she sees him.

"She seems quite attached to you," Vanilla laughs as she passes Amy to him.

"Well _there's _a surprise," he says sarcastically, and Amy hugs him around the neck. Tails sets up a cot of his own on the other side of the living room, and Sonic sits on the couch with Amy in his lap. She snuggles against his stomach, and he can feel her purring which makes him smile.

"Aw, that's just so cute," Cream sighs, sitting on Sonic's left.

"So when do we tell the others?" Tails asks as he sits on Sonic's right.

"Why not leave it until tomorrow," Sonic tickles one of Amy's ears, and chuckles when she takes a swat at his hand. "Lets make sure we're set for today, and then plan tomorrow."

Vanilla checks the clock, "I have to go now, best of luck to you three!"

They all wave to her as she drives off. Amy starts crying in Sonic's arms, and he looks at her worried.

"I think she'd just hungry," Cream Takes Amy from her, and put her in the high-chair. She puts a bib on her, and warms up a thing of baby food. Sonic decides to let her take care of this, and sits in a chair at the table.

"Fatherhood is tough, huh Sonic?" Tails grins as he sits opposite of Sonic at the table.

"Please, Tails, don't start. I'm glad you're both here to help me with this. Looking at it now, there's no way I can really take care of her. I mean, I can't change her diapers, or give her a bath while she's like this. If I did, then she'd kill me when she gets back to normal."

Tails looks at the ceiling thoughtfully, "I think that's up for debate, actually." Cream, and Sonic look at him in surprise. He shrugs, "Well I'm just saying, this is _Amy_ we're talking about, so she might not mind if it was Sonic."

Sonic shakes his head, "Regardless, I just can't do it. Cream, you don't mind taking care of that for me, do you?"

"Of course not," Cream squeaks as she spoons some food into Amy's waiting mouth. "Amy's my best friend, and I'll everything I can to help her."

"That might mean staying more than a night," Tails points out. "I mean, it's not like you can just run over here whenever Amy needs a diaper change, right?"

Cream frowns, "Yeah, that sounds true enough, but still I'm sure Mama won't mind."

Sonic smiles, "You're an angel, Cream, stay as long as you want."

When Amy won't eat any more food, Cream picks her up, and burps her. Amy giggles, and looks at the boys.

"Can I hold her?" Tails comes over, and Cream passes her to him. Amy giggles patting his face, and pulling the two-tailed fox's whiskers. With tears in his eyes, he gratefully passes her over to Sonic.

They head to the living-room, and Sonic puts her in the playpen. Amy reaches up to him in protest until Cream shakes a rattle, and hands it to her. After putting in a few stuffed animals in the pen, and a few extra toys, the three Mobians sit on the couch.

"Babies," Cream says, watching Amy wrestle a stuffed penguin. "An armful of joy, but they're hard work!"

"You gotta love the irony," Sonic grins, letting himself sink back into the couch.

Tails nods, "Yeah, she always wanted to have your babies, and now she _is _your baby."

"Tails, I asked you not to start." Sonic groans, "I can already hear Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge giving me a hard time."

Tails winces, "Sorry, I'll stop."

"Thanks," Sonic lets out a deep breath as he picks up the remote again. A few hours of TV later the sun is starting to go down. Cream changes Amy's diaper, and gives her a quick bath in shallow bathwater before dressing her in pink pajamas. She passes her to Sonic who bids his friends goodnight, and carries her up to his room. He puts her in the crib, chuckling as she squeaks out a yawn. Though he doubts that she needs it, he winds up the lullaby machine hanging over her cradle, and watches her pass out.

As quietly as he can he tiptoes to his bed, and crawls under the blanket. Is it just him, or is he actually starting to enjoy this?


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

Sonic's eyes blink open with the rising sun. With a small groan he slides his feet out of bed, and rubs his eyes. Suddenly he remembers what happened to Amy, and looks over at her crib. He quietly pads over in bare feet, and looks in. Her eyes are closed, and her mouth widens in sync to her quiet snoring. He smiles, and heads down the hall to the shower. As he steps out he hears Amy crying, the sound of water must have woken her up.

He heads back into his room to find Amy reaching out of her crib. He pats her head, and she nuzzles his hand. He chuckles, and picks her up, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"G'morning Amy, and how are you feeling today?" She baby-talks something at him, and he laughs, "That good, huh?"

He cradles her in his arms, and says in a serious voice, "Hey, thank you for protecting me yesterday. I know you'd be there for me if I was in your shoes, so I'm not going to abandon you, okay?"

She babbles something unintelligible, and pats his cheek. He laughs, and heads downstairs. Cream, and Tails are just waking up in their cots. Tails is wearing orange pajamas with red airplanes on it, and Cream wears a simple white nightgown.

"Morning, guys," Sonic says, and they wave to him. As they get ready for the day, Sonic sets Amy in her high-chair, and fetches a bib for her. He finds the open thing of baby food, and reheats it. Amy is a little stubborn to feed this morning, but she doesn't complain too much. Cream gives Amy her morning diaper change, and bath while Tails helps Sonic make breakfast for the three of them. There's not much in the fridge, and so they make scrambled eggs with toast. They put Amy in the playpen while they eat, and discuss what they're going to do today.

"I think we should the others some time to wake up before calling them over," says Tails.

Cream nods, "I agree, but in the meantime we should do some shopping. If we're going to stay for any longer we'll need to get some more food."

Sonic nods, "Okay, then that's what we'll do. Is there anything we'll need for Amy while we're out?"

"Well, are you going to take her with us while we're out," Cream asks, and takes a bite of toast.

"If we do then people are going to see her," Tails reasons. "So I think it depends on if we want to risk one of the others seeing her while we're out."

"Well it's not like we're keeping this a secret from them," Cream says. "Anyhow, I don't think we have a stroller for her, so one of us would have to carry her while we're out."

"Maybe one of us should stay here with her," Sonic says, downing his milk. "It would be a little inconvenient if we have to shuffle her around with bags of stuff."

"Yeah," Tails frowns thoughtfully. "It would be huh?"

"Okay then," Cream carries her used dishes to the sink. "One of us should stay to take care of Amy, while the other two go out for food, and a stroller."

"So who's staying," Tails wonders. "I don't think I can take care of Amy without her ripping my face off, so I'd like to go shopping."

"In that case, Cream, would you mind taking care of Amy?" Sonic looks at her from over his shoulder, "If I go out then it will be a shorter shopping trip. Plus I'd like to stretch my legs a little."

Cream nods, "Okay then, I'll do what I can here while you two are out."

"Well," Sonic says while standing. "Now that that's taken care of, what are we gonna eat?"

They continued like this for a few minutes, and put together two shopping lists. Tails flies off to go grocery shopping, since Sonic has no idea what some of the stuff on that list even is, and Sonic speeds of to the baby store. Once there, he looks over the different stuff on the list, comparing it to the merchandise.

"Can I help you with something?"

Sonic turns to see a chocolate colored bat standing behind him. She has on black sweatpants, and a green shirt with a name-tag that reads "Cocoa".

"Yeah," Sonic scratches his head. "You see, I recently got a baby to take care of, but I don't know how long she's going to be around. So I'm wondering if I should go with a jogging stroller, because I like to run, or the cheaper stroller."

Cocoa smiles, "Everyone knows that you like to run, Mr. Sonic. In my professional experience, most couples who shop here end up getting both on a "Just in case one breaks" basis." She helps him pick out a royal blue jogging stroller, and a sky-blue walking stroller. He picks up some more baby food, and some formula for bottle feeding before paying for it, and dashing back home.

As he approaches he sees a familiar van pulling into the driveway. Vanilla step out of the driver seat, and Sonic comes to a stop in front of her.

She looks him up, and down; he has a stroller under each arm, a box of baby food in one hand, and a box of powder formula in the other.

Vanilla giggles, "Well look who's ready to be a father."

Sonic groans, rolling his eyes, "Not you too!"

"Sorry," she takes half the load off of him. "But it was too precious to pass up."

"If you say so," Sonic walks inside to hear Amy crying. He walks into the living-room where Cream is trying to comfort her with various toys. Amy looks up, and starts crawling towards Sonic.

Cream sighs with relief, "She started the minute she realized that you were gone, Sonic. Nothing I tried worked!"

Sonic puts his purchases against the wall, and picks up a babbling Amy, "I don't doubt it, has Tails gotten back yet?"

Cream shakes her head, ears flopping, "Not yet. Hi Mama!"

"Hello, Cream, how are you? Did you sleep well?"

Cream nods, "Amy was an angel last night, she only woke up when Sonic was in the shower."

Vanilla raises her eyebrows, and smiles, "I'm glad to hear it, you have it easier than most. I don't think that you cried much as a baby, Cream."

"Chao!"

"Cheese!" Cream cries out, and hugs her pet Chao close. "I'm so sorry, in all the excitement I forgot that I left you at home."

"Chao Chao!" The little blue creature cuddles up to Cream much like Amy is in Sonic's arms. No wonder Cream is good at this mothering stuff.

Tails walks in the front door with groceries hanging from his arms. He takes them into the kitchen, and walks out to join the others. Vanilla has Amy in her lap, and is playing Peek-A-Boo with her. Cream, and Sonic are watching with smiles on their faces.

Sonic looks up at Tails, "Hey buddy, did you get everything alright?"

Tails nods, "Yeah, getting it back here was an adventure though."

Sonic checks the clock, it's about eleven in the morning.

"Looks like it's time to call up the others, huh?" The rest of them check the clock, and Vanilla stands, passing Amy to Cream.

"Then I'd best get out of your hair. Best of luck!" As she gets in the car, and pulls out, Sonic Calls up the others on his home phone, telling them to meet in the park by noon.

After he disconnects his last call, he says, "I'll stay with Amy, would you guys mind bringing them here? I don't like the idea of having to explain this more than once."

Cream, and Tails nod before walking out of the front door. Sonic picks up Amy, and bounces her on his lap.

"Well, this is the big moment, huh Ames? I know you probably wouldn't want them to see you like this, but they need to know what's up if they're going to help us out."

Amy summons her hammer, and starts whacking one of the stuffed animals near Sonic, completely oblivious to what he's saying to her. He smiles, and starts tickling her, making her giggle. They play for a little while longer, and then Amy starts yawning. Sonic carries her up to her crib, and texts Tails to let him know that Amy just fell asleep. He texts back a few seconds later to let him know that they'll be quiet when they get back.

Sonic decides to pass the time with his X-Box, and starts a new campaign on Halo. At about 12:15 they finally show up. Sonic watches as Tails, Cream, Rouge, Shadow, Knuckles, Silver, and Blaze file through the door.

"Alright," Rouge says with her hands on her hips. "So what's the emergency?"

"Is it time to put the beat-down on Eggman," Knuckles cracks his fists, and his neck.

"Sonic," Blaze looks around. "What's all this about?" She gestures at the baby stuff.

"Well," Sonic scratches the back of his head. "It's kinda hard to explain..."

Shadow glances around, "I notice that Rose is the only one not here. I'm going to take a guess that you finally gave in to her, and know she's with your kid."

Sonic jerks, "What the- no!" He speaks in a harsh whisper, "That's no it at all!"

"Well, what's up then?" Silver looks at Sonic, tilting his head to the side.

"Just let him spit it out," Knuckles raises his voice, and Cream hurriedly shushes him.

Too late, Amy starts crying upstairs, and Sonic goes up to get her. When he gets to the crib, he picks her up, giving her a pacifier. He takes a deep breath, and heads back downstairs to the others. Their reaction is raised eyebrows all around, and Amy looks at all of them with wide eyes. She doesn't remember them, so the sight of so many people scares her a little. She curls closer to Sonic, and he gives his friends an awkward grin.

"...I guess you can kinda figure the rest out for yourselves?"

Blaze blinks, "What happened?"

Sonic explains what happened at the bank, and no one says a word until he's finished.

"So what's the plan," Knuckles scratches his head. "I mean, we gotta do something, right?"

"We don't know anything about what that beam did to her," Blaze reasons. "Obviously it turned her into a baby, but it could have done something else too."

"Yeah, like what," Rouge asks the purple cat.

"I've actually given this some thought," Tails speaks up. "We could either try to reverse the ray's effects now, or we could wait it out. If we decide to wait it out, then she could either go through a rapid regrowth to her normal age, or she could just grow back at a normal pace."

"But we don't know if that could even happen," Silver points out. "What if something happened to her that stops her from growing at all?"

Tails nods, "It's possible that the beam may have done something to slow, or even halt her cellular reproduction. That means that her cells would be reproducing too slow for her growth to be noticeable, or not at all. I don't think it's a good idea to run any tests on Amy, but if we monitor her growth, then we'll have an answer in a few weeks, maybe a month."

Shadow crosses his arms, and says, "But that doesn't answer the question, what if we can't just wait it out?"

Tails licks his lips, "Then we'll have to find a way to reverse it ourselves. It would help if I had some understanding of how Eggman's laser works. I can work in my lab though, build some prototypes, and test them on plants to see if I can replicate that laser."

"That's a good idea Tails, why don't you get a start on that as soon as you can," Sonic pats the quivering Amy in his arms. "Maybe Vanilla can give us some idea of how a baby is supposed to grow, and then we'll know where we stand. This way we'll at least have a head-start if we have to turn her back ourselves."

Tails nods, and Knuckles says, "Well, It's a plan anyhow."

Rouge steps forward, and holds her hands out for Amy. Sonic gingerly passes her to rouge who cradles Amy in her arms.

Rouge smiles, "I'll tell you this much kid, you're a pain, but you make a beautiful baby."

Amy suddenly whacks Rouge between the eyes with her hammer. With a startled cry, Rouge accidentally drops Amy. Sonic dives to catch her, but luckily Silver has already got her with his telekinesis. Amy moans around her pacifier as Silver floats her to him. Silver pulls her out of midair, but holds her away from him.

"Um," he says. "I think someone needs a new diaper."

Cream takes Amy up into the bathroom, and Sonic notices Knuckles chuckling.

"Does she do that to you," Rouge asks, rubbing the sore spot between her eyes.

"Only when she's hungry," Sonic replies. Rouge, and Knuckles start laughing.

Silver lightly punches Sonic in the arm, "Thanks for telling us, now you know we got your back."

"Yeah," Rouge says, still laughing. "Because Amy's got daddy's front all to herself."

Sonic frowns as she, and Knuckles laugh harder. He turns to Tails, and gives him a "What did I tell you?" look. Tails gives him a sympathetic smile, and shrugs. Cream comes back down with Amy, and Sonic puts her in her playpen. Sonic notices that Shadow isn't laughing with with the white bat, and the red echidna. Sonic knows that Shadow doesn't laugh, but he's not even grinning at Sonic's discomfort. He's just staring at Amy with a frown.

Blaze puts a hand on Sonic's shoulder, "Well, if we can help in any way, then all you have to do is ask. You know that, right?"

Sonic smiles up at her, "Yeah, thanks Blaze."

Blaze smiles, and then her eyes slide to Amy when she sees the baby reaching up for her. Blaze reaches into the pen, and pulls Amy out into an awkward cradle with her arms. Amy touches Blaze's face, and then spits out her pacifier, giggling.

"Looks like she's picked out her new mommy," Knuckles chuckles.

Blaze fixes him with a look that kills his laughter in an instant, and says, "You're lucky my hands are full, or you'd be toasted."

Silver chuckles as Knuckles goes a little pale.

Over the next few hours they all hang out in Sonic's living-room. They take turns holding Amy with varying results. Rouge, and Tails don't want to hold her, so they're content to watch. When Blaze passes Amy to Silver the baby reaches up to pet the odd quills growing out of his forehead. He smiles at her, stroking her quills while making cooing sounds. After a few minutes, Amy reaches her hands out to Knuckles, curious. Silver passes Amy to him, and Knuckles holds her awkwardly with his hands under her armpits.

"Um... Hi?"

Amy cracks him across the jaw with her hammer, Baseball-Style.

"Ah," he says, flexing his jaw, and passing Amy to the next person, who happened to be Shadow.

Shadow carefully takes Amy from him, and holds her so she's sitting on his arm, and he has a hand on her back. Amy's tiny hands make fist in Shadow's chest fur, and she snuggles into it with a sigh. A few minutes later, Shadow raises his eyebrows when he realizes that Amy has fallen asleep.

Rouge grins, and whispers, "Wow Shadow, it's too bad you're not the fatherly type, huh?"

Shadow gives her a hard look before gently giving Amy back to Sonic. Then he turns, and quietly leaves the house. Rouge raises her eyebrows, and follows after him. Knuckles stands, and mouths "Good Luck Daddy" to Sonic before leaving. Sonic rolls his eyes before carrying Amy back up to her crib.

He come back down to find Silver, and Blaze still there.

"Hey," Silver says, scratching the back of his head. "Blaze, and I were wondering if we could stick around for a while. You know, see Amy when she wakes up?"

Sonic nods, "I don't see why not."

"I better head to the lab," Tails says, hopping off of the couch. "You were right, Sonic, the sooner I get started on this, the better off Amy will be."

Tails waves goodbye to them, and quietly leaves.

"Well it wasn't as bad as you were expecting, was it Sonic?" Cream smiles up at him from the floor, Cheese in her lap.

Sonic shrugs, "Eh, it could've been worse, yeah." they don't want to wake Amy up, so they leave the TV off. Instead Sonic pulls out a deck of cards, and they play a few different games.

Cream is in the kitchen, making lunch, when Amy wakes up again. Blaze goes up to get her this time, and brings her down with her pacifier in her mouth.

Sonic's a little surprised to see that Blaze has a maternal side, but then again he guesses that most women do. He finds himself smiling as Amy crawls across the floor, chasing Blaze's swishing tail. Silver makes some building blocks levitate, and circle around Amy. He even makes a stuffed monkey move on its own, making it dance for Amy's delight.

A few hours pass, and the sun begins to set. Blaze, and Silver say their Good-Byes, and leave. After another diaper change, a bath, and dinner they begin to start settling down for the night. Cream sleeps on the couch tonight, Sonic found her a blanket, and pillow.

With Amy in her crib, and everyone else set, they fall asleep to await they next upcoming day.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Just a breif explaination for the outburst in the summary. I had decided to check this story for grammar errors, and I found out that the chapter three in this story was from my book Sister Mine. Honestly, it must have been that way for nearly a month, and this story has over a hundred veiws total, and yet not one person thought to tell me that there was a chapter out of context! I feel like my pride as a writter has been stained! DX \\\\\)**

_**Chapter Three**_

It's been a few weeks since Amy's unveil, and things are going smoothly. Vanilla has dropped by to take Amy's measurements, and compare them to Cream's. So far they can't find anything worth noticing, which they hope is a good thing. Tails has been quiet, completely dedicating himself to fixing Amy. The others drop by occasionally, all except Shadow who no one has heard anything from. Amy likes playing with Blaze, and Silver pretty well; but no one is surprised that she likes Sonic the best.

Blaze, Silver, and Knuckles are all over to visit when they get a shock.

"Son... ic..."

The white hedgehog, purple cat, and red echidna all stare at Amy with wide eyes.

"Sonic," Silver calls. "Get in here, quick!"

Sonic appears in a blue blur, eyes darting around for any sign of danger.

Amy looks up at him, and stretches her arms out to him, "Sonic!"

Now Sonic is staring at her, his eyes almost popping out of his head. She crawls over to him, and wraps her tiny arms around his leg. He can feel her purring against his ankle.

He bends, and picks her up, "So she just said her first word, huh?"

"Not surprised that it's you, daddy-o," Knuckles chuckles, but stops when he sees Blaze casually holding a fireball in her hand.

"Sonic," Amy says again, wrapping her little arms around his neck.

"That's my name," Sonic says with a smile. "Don't wear it out, 'kay?"

The phone rings, and Cream answers it, "Hello?" There's a pause, and then, "Oh, hello Tails! How are you? … Okay, hold on a second."

Cream trades Sonic the phone for Amy who protests by saying his name again.

"Hey buddy," Sonic says, rubbing Amy's head.

"Sonic, you've got to get over here as soon as you can!"

"Sure, should I bring Ames?"

"You can if you want, but it won't really make much a difference."

"Alright, we'll be over in a second." Sonic hangs up, and takes Amy back from Cream, "Tails wants us to come over to the lab, sounds pretty urgent."

Cream brings over the jogging stroller, and Sonic straps Amy into it.

"Can we come?" Blaze stands, and cracks her neck.

"Sure, if you can keep up," Sonic grins at her.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," Cream scolds with her hands on her hips. "This is not a race, and you are not going to be breaking the sound barrier while pushing that stroller!"

"Jeez, Cream, calm down! It was just a joke!" Sonic pushes the stroller outside, and takes off. Blaze runs on his left while Silver flies on his right. As promised, Sonic doesn't break the sound barrier, but he does go pretty fast, about forty miles an hour.

In fifteen minutes they're standing outside of Tail's lab. Sonic takes Amy into his arms, and walks inside. Tails looks over his shoulder from a worktable, and says, "Sonic, thank Chaos, you're not going to believe this!"

"What's up buddy," Sonic tilts his head to the side. "Did you find a way to fix Amy yet?"

"No, but this is almost as good!" Tails steps aside, and Sonic gasps.

"Hey, that's the gun Eggman used on Amy!"

"Happy Birthday, Faker."

Sonic turns to see Shadow leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room, arms crossed. He has a smug grin on his face, almost taunting Sonic.

"Shadow went off, and found Eggman's base in the Mystic Ruins." Tails explains.

"And he brought this back?" Sonic nods to Shadow in thanks.

"That's not all he brought back," Tails says with a bit of a sour note in his voice. He jerks a thumb over his shoulder, and Sonic looks over, eyes going wide.

In the corner of the room is a playpen made of plexiglass, and inside is a chubby human baby with blue eyes, and a long nose.

Silver gapes at Shadow, "You didn't!"

Shadow gives him a hard glare, "I did,"

"Why?" Blaze is looking at Shadow, her expression is kind of annoyed.

Shadow ticks the reasons off on his fingers, "One, he deserves it. Two, I had to make sure that he was telling me the truth when he told me which laser in his armory he used of Rose. And three, now we have a guinea pig to test it on before trying it on Rose."

Sonic shakes himself out of his shock, "Okay, that first one I agree with, the second makes sense I guess, but there's no way you can be serious about the third!"

Tails steps in, "I'm just going to test my next series of prototypes on plants, like I did before, but at least this does give us time to work without Eggman throwing a wrench in everything."

Sonic has to admit that makes sense, "But who's looking out for him?"

"I am," Shadow says. "I made him this way, so he's my responsibility."

Sonic looks at Shadow curiously, "Okay, fair enough. But I gotta ask, Shadow, why would you go through so much trouble?"

Shadow pushes himself off of the walk, and walks over to him, "You're not the only person Rose has ever cared about, Faker. It's thanks to her that any of us are still here, so I'm not going to turn my back on her."

Shadow looks down at the little pink hedgehog, and brushes a finger against her quills, "I'm no babysitter, but I can help find a solution. Consider it my contribution."

Amy grabs Shadow's hand, and reaches out to him. Sonic passes her to Shadow, and she presses a hand to his face, "Sonic!"

Blaze snorts a laugh, and Shadow raises his eyebrows.

"De Ja Vue," he says.

"Same here," Silver says with a smirk.

Shadow points to himself for Amy to see, "I'm Shadow, Sha-dow."

Amy snuggles against his chest, and sighs. He raises an eyebrow at her, "Do I look like a pillow to you?"

Amy just burbles happily at him, and clenches her tiny fists in his fur. Shadow actually gives her a small grin, almost unnoticeable.

…

Over the next few weeks Shadow does stop by occasionally, either leaving Eggman with a hired babysitter, or bringing him in a basket. If possible, baby Eggman is a slightly bigger pain than the adult one, according to Shadow. He's almost impossible to feed, and the human baby wreaks havoc on Shadow's sleep, making him even grumpier than usual.

"Never in my life has coming here actually been something to look forward to," Shadow says, laying on Sonic's couch.

"Sabow," Amy says, crawling over to him on the floor. She's learning new words, but apparently hasn't learned to use her tongue for more than swallowing yet.

"Hello, Rose," Shadow says, patting her head.

"Excuse me, Mr. Shadow," Cream says. "But could you please just call her Amy? I'm afraid that if you keep calling her Rose then you'll wind up confusing her."

Shadow nods tiredly, and closes his eyes. Sonic grins, and Blaze pulls out a camera.

"Amy, look over here!" She flashes a picture, and Shadow's eyes snap open.

"What was that?" he growls glaring at Blaze.

"Oh, don't get your fur in a bunch," Blaze says, looking at the picture, and smiling. "It's just for the photo album."

Shadow raises an eyebrow, and she hands him a small black book. He opens it to find pictures of Amy at various times of the day. One is of her in her high-chair with orange gunk all over her face, and bib. Another is of her pulling one of Rouge's wings, much to the bat's discomfort. Shadow grins at a picture of Amy whacking Sonic with her hammer.

"That's a good look for you, Faker."

"I could say the same here," Sonic grins, sliding the picture of Shadow, and Amy into an empty slot. Amy is looking up at the camera while Shadow snoozes on the couch with one hand dangling to the floor.

Shadow gives Sonic a mean look, promising death later, and hands the album back to Blaze.

"Where's Mr. Silver," Cream asks, watching Cheese, and Amy play on the floor.

"He is off trying to find a Chaos Emerald for Tails," Blaze answers her. "Apparently that cannon needs one for a power source, but when Shadow grabbed it there wasn't one in there."

Sonic turns to Shadow, "Don't you have one?"

Shadow shakes his head, and closes his eyes again, "Not at the moment, and I didn't sense one at the base."

Sonic looks confused, "Then how did you use it on Eggman if it didn't have a power source?"

Shadow opens one eye, "It was plugged into some kind of generator, too large for me to bring back with the cannon."

"Good thing Tails made that radar," Cream squeaks. "It shouldn't take Silver very long to find one."

"Trust me, Cream," Sonic says, grinning. "Finding the emeralds is half the battle. Getting, and keeping a hold of the emeralds is a whole other can of worms."

"Eww," Amy says, and they laugh, even Shadow who chuckles before falling asleep.

Sonic's cell-phone beeps at him, and he reads the text, "It's Tails, he just made a leap with that blaster, and he wants to tell us face-to-face."

Sonic looks at Shadow, "Shadow should stay here, get some rest. Cream, can you watch out for Amy while we're gone?"

Cream nods, and Sonic takes off with Blaze. Amy holds her hands up and says, "Cweem!"

Cream picks Amy up, and wrinkles her nose a little, "Looks like it's that time again."

...

Sonic, and Blaze dash right into the lab to find Tails with Silver.

"You found one," Blaze demands, and Silver nods.

"I think we're set to go," Tails announces. "Watch this!"

In the center of Tails laboratory is a massive Oak tree in a glass encasement. Tails raises the dome, and pulls a leaf from the tree.

"As best as I can understand, the ray seems to affect the genetic memory in the cells of the victim. As it rearranges your molecules, some of that memory is lost, and the victim is essentially reset genetically to a safe point, in this case infanthood."

Tails activates Eggman's cannon, and aims it at the tree. The orange light engulfs the tree, and when it fades there's just an acorn laying in a hole in the soil.

"Now, to reverse this process, I had to first create a similar ray composed of the opposite energy. It didn't work at first, turning the target into dust, but I eventually figured out what was wrong."

Tails opens a compartment in Eggman's laser, and pulls out a blue Chaos Emerald. He goes over to the other side of the testing spot, and puts it in a laser that looks a lot like Eggman's but a bit different.

"In order to restore the host to its original state, I needed a sample of Pr-Exposure DNA."

Tails slides the leaf he collected earlier under the acorn in the hole. He runs back to his laser, and aims it at the acorn. The end of the laser glows purple, and a violet beam of light lances at the acorn. The seed begins to pulse purple, and then expands. It cracks as the seed rapidly grows back into the Oak tree that stood in the lab minutes before.

"Tails, you're a genius!"

To his surprise, both Blaze, and Sonic tackle him in a hug.

"There... Is... a downside..." Tails gasps, and they let him go. Tails takes a deep breath, and continues, "I haven't tested it on animals, or people yet, so I don't know if it will work. I didn't mess with Eggman's laser before testing it on plant-life, so I'd say that we have pretty high chance of success. I'm not a hundred percent sure though..."

He lets that hang in the air, and they're quiet.

"Eggman," Blaze finally says. "Shadow did have a point about having a guinea pig. We can just use him."

Even Silver raises his eyebrows at her, Sonic had spent so much time watching her fawn over Amy that he'd almost forgotten how cold Blaze can be.

"You can't be serious," Sonic gapes at her, a slight edge in his voice.

Blaze rounds on him, "Maybe you haven't heard, Sonic, but yesterday I checked with Vanilla. Amy's growth is slowing down! I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty bad bad to me. If we use Eggman, then we'll know if the damn thing works on living organisms! Worst case scenario, Eggman dies, meaning one less thing for us to worry about, and Tails will have a better idea of how to fix his laser."

"But-" Sonic begins, but Blaze cuts him off.

"Amy is my friend, Sonic, and I thought you were her friend too!"

Sonic takes a step back as if she just slapped his across the face. He balls his fist at his sides, but says nothing.

Blaze presses on, "I'm not going to stand by while an innocent girl like Amy dies, Sonic. If she can't grow any faster, then that might very well happen to her."

Sonic glares up at her with eyes reminiscent of Shadow's, "I won't stop you, but I'm not going to condone this, Blaze. I want no part of this, because if this goes wrong, then everyone involved is a murderer."

With that, Sonic turns, and bolts back to his house. Blaze says nothing, she knows the risks. She also knows that, if it can save Amy, she doesn't care.

She turns to Tails, who is still sitting on the floor, and then she says, "You said that you need a sample of his DNA from before he got blasted. What exactly am I going to be looking for?"

Tails gulps, and looks at his feet, "I don't know Blaze, Sonic has a point. Besides, you were there when I told Sonic I would only test the ray on plant-life."

Blaze kneels to looks Tails in the eye, "Tails, you know I'm only trying to help Amy here. If we leave things as they are then she may die. You knew when you started this that you were going to eventually use the ray on living organisms. This is just the same as using the ray on Amy, but because Robotnik started this mess he deserves to go first."

Tails purses his lips, still unsure.

"Tails," Blaze continues, and he looks up at her. "I won't back down from this, and I will threaten you if I have to. Please don't make me do that."

Tails looks her in the eye, and he can tell it's not a bluff. He swallows, and says, "Maybe we should ask the others what they think, put it to a vote."

"I agree," Silver says. Blaze turns to see him standing behind her, arms crossed. A few sparks appear in her palm, but she clenches a fist to extinguish them.

"Fine," she says, helping Tails stand up. "We'll put it to a vote. But we have to make it quick, time may be shorter than we think."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

Cream is sitting on the floor in front of Amy. She has Amy by the hands, and is trying to teach her how to stand up. Sonic comes through the front door, slamming it behind him. Cream, and Amy jump, startled at the noise.

Shadow growls from where he still lays on the couch, "It may be your house, Faker, but there's still such a thing as-"

Shadow pauses when he sees the anger of Sonic's face, never has he seen Sonic really angry. What could have happened at the lab?

"Sonic!" Amy squeals in delight, and for a moment Sonic's step falters. He gives her a glance, and then heads up the stairs without a word.

"Oh dear," Cream moans. She hands Amy to shadow, "I'm sorry Shadow, but could you please watch Amy for a little bit?" Shadow takes Amy from Cream, holding her while he watches the peach colored rabbit disappear up the stairs.

Cream stands outside Sonic's room, she can't hear anything. She knocks, "Sonic, are you okay?" Hearing nothing she slowly opens his door to find him sitting on his bed. Sonic doesn't look up, and he doesn't say anything.

Cream sits next to him, and puts a concerned hand on his arm. "Was it bad news?"

Sonic heaves a heavy sigh, "The ray works, Cream, but..."

"But what," Cream squeaks, confused.

Sonic looks up at her, and she recoils from the look of despair there.

"They don't know if it'll work on Amy... So they want to test it on Eggman."

Cream gasps, and covers her mouth with her hands, "How horrible! What if it hurts him?"

Sonic shakes his head sadly, "They don't care, they think it's only fair that he take the risk even though he has no say right now."

Cream starts crying now, afraid for their mortal enemy. It's wrong to out one life before another, no matter who it is.

Suddenly Shadow appears in the doorway, "Is this true?"

Sonic looks up at Shadow, and nods.

Shadow closes his eyes in thought for a minute before saying, "What would Rose say if she could understand what's happening? What would she say if she had a say?"

Cream, and Sonic share a look, and then turn back to Shadow.

"Amy was never afraid to take risks," Sonic says. "But right now... I'm not sure."

Shadow opens his crimson eyes, and looks into Sonic's emerald ones, "We must remember, right now keeping Rose safe is our top responsibility."

Cream looks around with tear filled eyes, "Where is she now?"

"She's downstairs in the playpen. First we need to ask ourselves if we absolutely have to use that ray on Rose."

Sonic clenches a fist, "Blaze says that Vanilla told her that Amy is growing slower, and slower now."

Cream sniffs, "It's true, Sonic. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to worry you, but..." Finding herself at a loss for words, Cream picks up a pillow from Sonic's bed, and starts sobbing into it.

Shadow sighs, "Then the answer is yes, we do have to use the ray. That, or let Rose continue the way she is now, until her growth comes to a standstill altogether. It may eventually become worse than that."

Sonic shudders, he knows that Shadow's right, but he wishes otherwise.

"I don't like this either, Sonic," Shadow says, his voice ringing with sincerity. "But it is the safest, and most effective way to tell if it's safe for Rose."

Sonic balls both his fists, and snarls, "Fine, you go, and help them kill Eggman! I already told them I'm not going to condone this, and I'm not changing my mind anytime soon!"

Shadow glares at Sonic before heading back down the hall. Cream looks up from the pillow in her arms, her eyes red from crying.

"I don't know what to do, Sonic," she sniffs, and sobs. "I'm so confused, and scared."

"Me too, Cream," Sonic stares at his shoes. "Me too."

…

A few hours pass, and almost everyone is gathered in Tails's lab. He, and Blaze explain what's going on.

"Well," Rouge says from the ceiling. "I'll be the first to admit, Eggy may not be my favorite person in the world, but this is a bit much for my tastes."

Knuckles looks up at Tails, "Is there another way?"

Tails shakes his head, "None that I can think of."

Knuckles frowns, "Then I say go for it, it's not like we have that many options."

"That's two votes for yes," Blaze says. "Anyone else?"

Shadow heaves a sigh, "I vote yes as well, we may not have much time."

"That's three yeses to one no," Blaze says, looking up at Rouge.

"I never said that I was voting no, honey. If I have to see either Amy, or Eggy kick it, the I'd rather it be Eggy."

"That makes four yes votes," Tails says sadly. He takes a deep breath, and says, "I don't like this, and I hate to think of what Sonic will say; but Amy is my friend, and I have to save her. I vote yes"

Blaze nods, and all eyes turn to Silver. He meets their gazes steadily, and then says, "I just want to say now that I think this is wrong. But this is either a choice of either letting them both die slowly, killing one while letting the other die slowly, or saving them both. I vote yes."

Blaze nods, "Then it's decided. Tails, how soon will the ray be ready?"

Tails swallows, "Well, like Eggman's ray it takes fifteen minutes to cool down before it can be used, otherwise it'll explode. It's ready now, but we still need a sample of his DNA from before Shadow shot him with the cannon."

Shadow's expression shows that even now he does not regret it, "I'll get into his base, see if I can find anything."

Rouge drops from the ceiling, "I'll come too, it would be nice to have a plan B after all."

Tails nods to them, "I can use anything from a hair in a comb to an old toothbrush. Good Luck, guys!"

Shadow, and Rouge nod before turning to leave.

"Oh, hold up a sec," Tails calls to them, and he pulls the Chaos Emerald from his ray. "Shadow, take this with you, just in case."

"I'll be fine without it," Shadow replies. "Besides, we shouldn't risk it on a simple retrieval mission.

Tails pauses, and then nods before putting the gem back in his invention.

...

Cream watches as Sonic tries to keep Amy amused. She hopes that, for everyone's sake, the test works.

…

_INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!_

Shadow ignores the alarm as he bowls over Eggman's machines. Without the doctor there to command them, they're even easier to destroy that usual. That's just sad in Shadow's opinion. While Shadow distracts the majority of Eggman's security with his usual brutal approach, Rouge has sneaked in through the air ducts, using an old thieving trick to get around.

She pushes up a vent from the ceiling of the shaft, and finds herself in what looks like a bedroom. Seeings how Eggy is the only one who can actually sleep around here, she must be close to what she needs. She checks for alarm wires with a pair of spy glasses, but doesn't see a thing. With the alarms already tripped, one would think it was a silly thing to do, but most places use thermal lasers to pick up an intruder's location even after the alarms go off.

She does notice something in the nightstand though, it looks like a safe. She grins to herself, Shadow can hold those things off forever, so she's got time for a look-see.

She clicks over, and opens the cabinet door. The safe is protected by a thumbprint scanner, and she chuckles to herself. She knows her way around any sort security system. She takes a breath, and breaths on the scanner. Eggman's thumbprint shows up on the scanner, and the safe clicks open. She opens the door, and gasps. What else would it be, but a Chaos Emerald?

She picks up the golden jewel, and notices a book lying underneath it. Curiously, she flips through the pages, and grins to herself.

"Looks like I hit a double Jackpot," she says to herself, and tucks the book under her arm. First she checks the bed, hoping that there may be a hair, or something on one of the pillows. Then she remembers that Eggy is bald, and heads to the bathroom.

She stills her head in through the door, and looks around. She notices a series of robotic arms hanging from the ceiling over the sink. She crawls up the wall for a better look, and grins. In the grip of the arms is hygiene stuff; toothbrush, razor, etc. After putting her spoils from the safe in a pocket, she takes a small plastic bag from her hip, and empties the razor's hair into it. After sealing the bag, and putting it in her other pocket, she calls Shadow on an earpiece.

"Shadow, I've got the DNA, and guess what else I found."

"A Chaos Emerald."

Rouge blinks, "Yeah, how did you-"

"A few minutes ago I sensed one nearby. Either Robotnik found a way to hide one from my senses, or someone just used Chaos Control to appear nearby."

Rouge smirks, floating down to the floor, "Nice, but now that we have the emerald we can just teleport back to the lab, and end this nightmare."

"I'm homing in on the emerald's signature, I'll be with you shortly."

"Roger that," Rouge says. "Over, and out."

Two seconds after disconnecting, the door to Robotnik's room is blasted inwards, Shadow stepping from the dust.

"Well that didn't take long," Rouge starts walking his way.

Suddenly electricity arcs through Shadow's body. He's blasted across the room, and hits a wall. Rouge gapes from Shadow to the doorway in time to see a large yellow robot stomp through it.

"You must be Thunderfist," Rouge says, backing towards Shadow. "Sonic had a lot to say about you, none of it pleasant."

"Intruders identified; former ally Rouge the Bat, and former ally Shadow the Hedgehog." Thunderfist raises a hand towards them, "You will both be placed in incarceration until further orders come from Dr. Ivo Robotnik."

"Well, seeings how he can't say much at the time, that's not gonna happen," Rouge reaches into a pocket, and drops the Chaos Emerald into Shadow's lap. While a grunt of effort, Shadow puts a shaky hand on the emerald.

He warps, using the emerald's energy to shake off the effects of the lightning. He reappears to Thunderfist's left, and the robot moves to attack him.

"Chaos Spear!"

Three bolts of golden light pierce Thunderfist, symmetrically cutting the robot in half. Shadow rolls his neck, and walks over to Rouge. She takes his hand, and Shadow holds the Chaos Emerald over his head.

"Chaos Control!"

…

In a flash of golden light Shadow, and Rouge reappear in Tails's laboratory. The fox grins at the two of them, before coming over. "How was it, did you get it?"

Rouge passes Tails the bag of hair, and he takes it to his computer to run some tests. Blaze notices some singed fur on Shadow, and asks him about it.

"One of Eggman's robots caught me by surprise," He replies.

Knuckles rubs his chin, "Y'know, I've always wondered how Eggman gets the stuff to make those robots. He can't be doing it legally, otherwise any government would have pulled his money, right?"

"Probably the Black Market or something," Rouge agrees.

Tails looks up from his computer with a smile, "Alright, we're all set."

Their faces fall, and Blaze says, "Now all we need is the Doctor."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter Five**_

Shadow warps to his place, and returns with baby Robotnik in his arms. He passes the baby to Tails, who takes him inside a metal room. He returns a moment later, his head hung low. Walking to a console, he types a series of commands, and the ray is moved so that it's pointed down into the room at Eggman.

"I put the hair in his diaper," says Tails. His hand hovers over a big red button, and he hesitates.

"If you want, I'll do it," Blaze says, walking forward. "I pressured you into going this far, you're done now."

Tails nods, and steps back. Blaze steps up to the console, and takes a deep breath.

"Cross your fingers."

She slams a hand down on the button, and the ray powers up they see it blast purple light into the room. They hear the startled cries of a baby, and then silence. The light of the laser fades, and still they hear nothing.

Tails walks over to the door of the room, and slides back a panel to peer inside. His muscles tense, his tails puff like a startled cat's, and he collapses to the floor. Silver rushes over, and turns tails onto his back. His expression is that of horror, and he's barely even breathing.

Knuckles looks through the panel, and leaps back with a terrified cry. He runs to the nearest trashcan, and immediately hurls into it.

What have you done," Knuckles looks at the stunned Tails, the echidna's face a mask of true fear, and disgust.

…

Sonic is bouncing a baby Amy in his lap, listening to her cries of delight. The phone rings, and Cream answers it.

"Hello? … Silver, he-... please slow down, what's wrong? … yes… yes... Oh no! Okay, here he is!"

Cream passes the phone to Sonic, and he says, "Silver what's up?"

a moment of silence, and the Silver chokes out, "It's Tails, he needs you."

Sonic puts Amy in Cream's arms, "Okay, I'm on my way."

Sonic hangs up, and dashes for the door. Less than a minute later he's in the lab to a sight that sends shivers down his spine. Knuckles is passed out on the floor, and Rouge is trying to revive him by waving a fan in his face. Blaze has her head hung, and both hands pressed firmly into one of Tails's lab tables. Silver is bent over Tails, who is staring at the ceiling with wide, horrified eyes. Only Shadow seems to have an once of composure left, so Sonic walks up to him.

"Shadow, what happened?"

Shadow says nothing, and suddenly Sonic understands.

"You didn't..."

Shadow looks away, "Yes, we did."

"I told you it wouldn't work," Sonic growls through his teeth. "I told you you shouldn't have done it."

A look of disgust comes over Shadow's features, "You were right, we should have planned this better."

Silver looks up from Tails, "Well, at least we know it works now, right?"

Sonic pauses, it works?

He looks at the others not understanding one bit, if it works, and Eggman's back to normal, then what are they freaking out about?

As if reading his thoughts, Rouge looks up at Sonic, "Just be glad you weren't here an hour ago, Sonic. I don't think these two boys will ever be the same."

"Just tell me what happened," Sonic looks around at all of them. Finally Sonic hears Silver speaking to him.

"About an hour ago we ran the test on Eggman, and it was a complete success. But tails forgot to take his growth spurt into the preparations, and..."

"And?" Sonic is waiting for him to continue.

Silver gulps, and chokes his words out, "... When we put him in the machine, he was only wearing his baby clothes... only those of us who didn't look were spared..."

Sonic staggers backwards as that image flashes through his mind. His eyes shoot to Blaze who looks up at him with guilt in her eyes. She was willing to condemn Eggman to death to save Amy, but this...

Silver is still talking, "Shadow, and Rouge held themselves together in order to get Eggman out of here, fully clothed thank Chaos, and then we called you."

Sonic kneels next to Tails, and shakes his shoulders gently, "Buddy, talk to me! It's me, Sonic!"

Slowly Tails's eyes turn to him, a look of madness in them. "Sonic," he rasps, and his hands come up to grab Sonic's. "It was a nightmare, right Sonic? It was just a bad dream, right?!"

Sonic winces at his friend's grip, but nods, "It was just a bad dream, buddy. You fainted the moment the machine turned off."

A smile comes across Tails's lips, "A bad dream... I knew it had to be... a bad dream..." And then the yellow fox promptly faints.

Sonic looks up at Silver, and they share a nod. Sliver turns to Rouge, "You should tell that to Knuckles when he wakes up."

Rouge nods, she may not really be best buddies with the echidna, but no one should have to recall that kind of trauma.

...

Tails, and Knuckles wake up in Sonic's house. Amy giggles as they sit up from their spot on the floor.

"W-what happened?" Knuckles rubs his sore head.

"You guys fainted as soon as the ray turned itself off," Silver lies to them. "It worked, and we got rid of Eggman easy enough."

"Looked like you two were having one heck of a dream," Rouge smirks at them. "I almost care enough to ask what it was."

"Ugh," Tails groans. "That was no dream, it was a nightmare. May Chaos forbid anyone having to ever see that."

"I can believe it," Sonic grins. "Tails you actually woke up, and nearly attacked me while you were dreaming, and Knuckles threw up in his sleep."

"So that's what that taste is," Knuckles makes a face. "Can I get a glass of water to clean my mouth out?"

Cream appears with one, and Shadow speaks up.

"Now that we know it works, when do we proceed with Rose?"

Tails stands, helping knuckles to his feet, "Well, the cannon should have cooled down by now, so as soon as we have the DNA we need, then we can start."

"I think I got just the thing," Sonic heads upstairs, and return with a ring of red cloth.

"Amy's headband," he explains. He turns it inside out so that they can see the shed fur from her quills.

Tails smiles, "That ought to do it! Let's go!" they all head to his lab as fast as their feet can carry them. Silver flies with Amy, since they figure that would be the least jarring way to travel at high speeds.

Minutes later Blaze takes Amy from Silver, and heads into the metal room. Secretly she's carrying Amy's clothes under her arms, and sets them to the side as she puts Amy on the floor. She leaves her there, and closes the door to the room as she leaves.

"Throw the switch Tails!" She calls over, and, with a smile, the fox slams a hand on the big red button. They all watch with smiles as the metal room fills with purple light. When it fades, Blaze opens the door to look inside.

She freezes.

Slowly she steps inside, her tail twitching anxiously. There, in the middle of the room, is a sleeping baby named Amy Rose. Blaze bends down, and scoops her up in her arms before carrying her outside to the others.

Tails's jaw drops, "It didn't work?"

"Is she okay," Sonic demands.

Blaze nods, "Her breathing is even, and her heart is fine. She's just asleep, Sonic, just asleep."

Sonic carefully takes Amy from Blaze, staring at her sleeping face. Silver looks around at the others, "So what do we do now?"

"Well, for one, we don't panic," Shadow looks pointedly at Silver.

"Shadow's right," Sonic takes a breath to calm himself. "I never thought I'd say that, but Shadow's right."

Tails scratches his head, "It might be a bad idea to try putting Amy through the ray again, so I suggest we wait. It's getting kinda late, so why don't we get some rest, and think this through while we're freshly rested?"

They all nod in agreement, and head to their respective homes. Cream offers to stay with Sonic some more, but he tells her she should go home to give her mom the news. Luckily Cream changes Amy's diaper before leaving, and bidding them both good-night.

Sonic carries Amy upstairs, and sets her in her crib.

"Don't worry your little head, Ames," Sonic whispers to her. "We're still gonna help you, I promise."

he brushes the sleeping hedgehog's quills with a hand, and then heads to his own bed. He stares at her clothes, which now sit on top of his dresser, with remorse. They may have failed this once, but he's not finished yet. Not by a long shot.

…

Midnight comes, and moonlight creeps in through the bedroom window. Sonic, and Amy are fast asleep, each in their own dreamland. A violet light begins to shine from the crib, not bright enough to wake Sonic. Amy's limp form rises out of the crib, and begins to pulse with the purple light. The pulses get faster, and faster as she begins to grow, ripping the baby pajamas. As the light begins to fade, Amy slowly floats down to the floor; once again sleeping like a baby, but not _as_ a baby.

Amy groans, and turns on her side, she feels itchy. She's cold too, and she tries to rub some warmth into her limbs. Her eyes flutter open, and she sits up to take in her surroundings.

"Huh, where am I?"

Then she remembers throwing herself in front of the beam to save Sonic.

"So... am I dead?" She takes another look around, "If so, heaven is a lot darker, and bluer than I expected."

She sneezes, and rubs her nose, noticing her nudity. She wraps her arms around herself, "I wish I had my clothes."

She spots them sitting on a blue dresser, maybe she really is in heaven. She dresses quickly, and turns when she hears Sonic snort in his sleep.

"Sonic..."

Did he die too, was her sacrifice in vain? She mulls that over, and then decides that she's probably just in Sonic's bedroom. It would explain the color... But was she doing _naked_ in his room?

Her eyes go wide with a sudden thought, but she quickly dismisses it. Sonic would never do that to anyone, least of all her.

"Amy..."

Amy freezes when she hears him call her name in his sleep. She tiptoes to the side of his bed, and peers at his sleeping face. Is he dreaming about her? She sees tears in his eyes, and the crease between his eyebrows suggests it's not a good dream.

"Ames... my fault... so sorry..."

Amy can feel tears in her own eyes, and she reaches out a hand to wake him.

"Amy," Sonic whispers, and she stops. "I got you... you're safe now... please be okay..."

Amy takes a quiet breath, and steps back. She smiles to herself, he really does care about her. Sonic rolls away from her, and she quietly slips out of his room. She quietly heads downstairs, and sees the time, just a little after midnight. She spots a pillow, and a blanket on the couch, and decides to wait until morning.

…

Sonic blinks his eyes open as the sun shines across his bed. He yawns, getting up, and heading for the shower. As he gets out he stops, and sighs. He doesn't hear Amy crying, she must still be asleep. Just what did that laser do to her. He checks his clock as he heads to his room, just a little after eight in the morning. With a sigh, he walks over to Amy's crib.

She's not there.

Sonic staggers backwards, a look of horror on his face. He turns, and runs, tripping to go headlong down the stairs. He barely feels the rising bump on his head as he grabs the phone off of the counter, and hits Cream's number.

"Hello?" Cream answers after barely one ring. It doesn't look like she was able to get much sleep after yesterday.

"Cream, Amy's gone! I checked you crib, and it's totally empty!"

Cream gasps, "Oh no! I'll be right over!"

"Good," Sonic says. "I'll call the others."

Sonic hangs up, and starts dialing Tails's number.

"Sonic?"

Sonic freezes, and slowly looks over his shoulder. Standing there dressed as he's always known her is Amy Rose, once again her sixteen year old self.

She rubs the sleep from her eyes, and blinks at him. She lets out a gasp, and glomps him. Sonic takes her face in her hands, and feels her arms, not entirely sure if he's still dreaming.

Amy blushes slightly, "Um, Sonic?"

He blinks at her, "This is real right, it's not a dream or anything?"

Amy blinks at his, not entirely understanding, "Yeah, as far as I can tell."

Sonic surprises her by wrapping his arms around her shoulders, hugging her tightly.

"You're back," she hears him whisper. "Thank Chaos, Ames, you're back."

Amy is unsure of what to do, Sonic has never treated her this way before. And what does he mean by "You're back"? Slowly, and admittedly a little reluctantly, she pulls back to look him in the eye.

"Sonic... What happened?"

Sonic blinks, and grins at her before letting her go, "It's kinda a long story..."

Sonic calls Cream to let her hear the news, and then proceeds to call the others. In little to no time at all the entire team is in Sonic's living-room as he tells Amy what happened.

"No way," Amy scoffs. "Me? Turned into a baby? This has got to be some kind of practical joke."

"I almost wish it was," snickers Blaze, and she shows Amy the album of baby pictures. Amy's eyebrows hit the ceiling as she flips through the pages. She want to say that these are doctored photos, but she doesn't have any baby pictures of her own.

She blushes madly as she grabs Blaze's hand, and presses it to the cover of the album, "Please Blaze, for the love of everything good on this planet, burn it!"

"No way," Blaze shouts, snatching the album back from Amy. "I'm keeping this!"

"Good idea," Rouge grins. "That way if princess here starts getting uppity we got some ready blackmail material."

"Go away," Blaze, and Amy shout at Rouge. Silver is standing in a corner of the room, scratching his head.

"What I wanna know," Silver says. "Is why it took so long for Amy to turn back. As I remember it, Eggman turned back right after he got blasted with the second ray.

Tails shrugs, "I have a few theories, but nothing definite. It could be that she was turned into a baby for so much longer than Eggman, It could be the fact that the DNA we used was gathered off the headband she was wearing at the time, or it could just be the fact that the ray works differently on Mobians. We may never know."

"I'm just glad it's finally over," Sonic sighs. He's not the only one.

…

Sonic is sitting under a tree in the park at Station Square. It's been a few days since Amy returned, and everything is almost back to normal. Eggman hasn't reared his head in a long time, but Rouge explained that away. Apparently the book she stole from Eggman's base was his diary, and so she is blackmailing him to stay quiet. Sonic's thinking about talking her out of it, it's just too peaceful for him these days.

"Oh Sonic!"

Sonic looks to see Amy running up to him from his right. He grins at her, and she sits next to him.

"Heya, Ames! How's it going?"

Amy shrugs, "Same old, same old. Now I'm starting to see why you always let Eggman get away."

Sonic chuckles, "Great minds think alike, eh?"

Amy scoots a little closer to him, sitting on her knees, "You know Sonic... Blaze sent me a copy of that album she made. It looks like you really did look out for me while I was..." Unable to continue, she blushes.

"It was no big deal," Sonic says, folding his hands behind his head. "You're one of my best friends, Ames. Besides, what kind of jerk would I have been if I pushed you off on someone else after you saved my bacon back at the bank?"

Amy grins, and leans in close, "Thank you Sonic..."

Sonic sees where this is going, and he looks over her shoulder, "Huh, since when does Silver do Ballet?"

"What?" Amy looks over her shoulder, and feels a sudden gust of wind. She narrows her eyes, he didn't! She turns back to Sonic... Correction, where Sonic _used_ to be.

She glares off into the distance, eyeing the Blue Blur as he retreats an maybe a hundred miles an hour.

"Sonic," she shouts, chasing after him, hammer in hand. "Get back here!"

Okay, _now_ everything is completely back to normal!

_**Fin**_


End file.
